


We Were Infinite

by OptimisticJamie



Series: Inquisitor x Love Interests [5]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anorexia, Bulimia, Car Accidents, Drug Use, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 06:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4210893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticJamie/pseuds/OptimisticJamie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Anea reached her seventh year she had the misfortune of meeting Cullen and his ‘gang’. Their encounter had been swift and violent and ended in teachers pulling the pair apart, arms still swinging, noses bloodied and broken, faces bruised. The boy had glared with malice at Anea when she declared a truce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sunburned and Shoeless Kids

When Anea reached her seventh year she had the misfortune of meeting Cullen and his ‘gang’. Their encounter had been swift and violent and ended in teachers pulling the pair apart, arms still swinging, noses bloodied and broken, faces bruised. The boy had glared with malice at Anea when she declared a truce. 

Things were uneasy between them for the rest of the year. Being stuck in the same classes proved difficult for either of them to ignore the other, especially when group projects and assigned seating was brought into play.

When Cullen had the audacity to suggest friendship Anea had scoffed, quickly turning into a laugh when she saw he was serious. After several weeks of pondering she returned, agreeing to his proposal albeit reluctantly, but they were stuck at the same school together for the next five years. Over the course of the first Summer Anea and Cullen had visited each other a total of twenty times, Anea taught him how to shoot, archery being her preferred hobby, while Cullen suggested several fantasy novels for her to read.

They enjoyed the other’s company. 

It was midway through their eighth year when Anea realised that maybe friendship with Cullen wasn’t so bad. Upon realising this she decided she needed to see him and walked over an hour to reach his house. 

His house was single story and she recalled him saying he shared a bedroom with his brother, Branson. She skulked around the side of the house upon observing their car was not parked in the drive, nor the open garage. Finding what looked like a male’s room she tapped on the window with her knuckles.

She jerked back when it opened suddenly and Cullen leaned his head out, “What are you doing back here? How did you get back here?” He looked passed her to the locked gate she had climbed. 

“I’m not only good at archery, Rutherford.” She reached up, palms flat on the brick windowsill, “Scoot over, I’m coming in.”

“N-no!” Cullen’s face flushed red and he worked to push her hands off the sill. Her fingers slipped off the bricks; unfortunately she had already brought her legs up to begin scaling the wall. Her grip failed and she fell with a thud on her backside. 

Staring up at him opened mouthed she huffed a laugh. “Why can’t I come in?”

“Did your parents ever teach you manners? I’ll let you in through the front door!” His head disappeared back into the room, the window closing behind him. The next moment the gate had unlatched and Cullen threw it open, beckoning her through.

She crossed the threshold into his house and recognised a heavy smell of cinnamon and vanilla, a plug in air freshener. 

“Cullen? Who have you brought over?” A female voice called from down the hall where the television was on, the volume turned down so the occupant could hear.

“A school friend, Mia.” Cullen called back; leading Anea to the kitchen table, “Want a drink?”

“Not really.” Anea replied. 

Footsteps sounded down the hall from the living room and an older girl Anea could only assume was Mia entered the kitchen. She smiled and slapped Cullen lightly on the back, he gagged almost spitting the orange juice he had sipped from the carton back.

“You didn’t tell me you invited her over?” Mia questioned, her tone was light.

“I didn’t. She invited herself.” Cullen explained. 

“Oh well, next time come round when our parents are home. It makes them edgy knowing we had uninvited guests when they weren’t home.” Mia excused herself and headed back to the television. 

Cullen and Anea sat in silence for a few moments before Cullen turned to her, “Why are you here?” He asked, as politely as he could.

Anea shrugged, “We’re friends aren’t we?”

Cullen looked at her for a moment before he shrugged himself, “I guess so.” 

“Well, that settles it.”


	2. There was no time in those days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From that moment interactions between the two of them seemed different. She didn’t try to kiss him again, and he didn’t try to kiss her.

By the time they were sixteen Anea had grown to Mia’s height, though Cullen still stood above her by a mere half a foot, her face had sharpened and thinned, and her chest had grown, by this age though she was used to the catcalls and wolf whistles though she wore a sports bra to keep the worst of it at bay. She wasn’t thin, but she wasn’t over weight either. Her mother often pocked at her sides commenting on her love handles, she tried her best to ignore it. 

Cullen had changed too, becoming old enough in his parents eyes to help more in their fields the hard labour had toned his shoulders and puberty had broadened them, his jaw sharpened and his hands hardened. His hair was still a curly mop of blonde that might have been too long, but didn’t seem to bother him.

Then teenagers their age started to find where they fit in the world, trends were followed, diets started. By the middle of their tenth year Anea had lost a considerable amount of weight, bringing her chest size down by a full three cups, but she looked ill and didn’t eat much of anything. Cullen had begun to style his hair, slicking it back with either a straightening iron or hair gel, he began wearing leather jackets and the pair of them were inseparable.

 

Cullen found Anea in the school’s art studio one lunch break, her hands in a black bag as she fiddled with something, brow creased in concentration and frustration.

“Need any help?” Cullen offered. His voice had also deepened, he was still not use to the sound of it, and obviously neither was Anea.

“No, no I’m fine, I just have to—got it!” Removing her arms from the back she moved a canister that was sealed with a black funnel in the mouth. She placed it carefully on the table and ran to the sink where she pulled out bottles of chemicals and measured them carefully into the canister. 

Shaking out the black bag an old film roll and container tumbled to the floor.

“What are you doing?” He asked.

“My photography portfolio. Papa bought me an old film camera and told me if I can master film he’ll get me a digital!” Anea beamed with excitement. 

Cullen shared her enthusiasm; he had often become a model for Anea’s experiments and looked forward to seeing what she produced. The timer on her phone rang and she drained the chemicals from the canister before pouring water in and another chemical.  
“Anyway, I came to ask you if we’re still on for our study session this afternoon?” Cullen asked, watching as she drained the liquid from the canister when her timer went off again. She beckoned him into the dark room, their eyes adjusting to the orange lights.

“I don’t know.” Anea responded.

“Why?” Cullen felt a little hurt, their afternoon study sessions was something they started back in eight grade, Anea would come around after school and they would sit outside, either in the fields, or Anea would sit in a tree in the paddock while Cullen sat underneath her. Or he would walk, or drive now, to Anea’s and they’d sit at her dining room table, Anea would have her feet on the table, her parents never got home till late. Most of their study sessions at her house were filled with looking after her three younger siblings, her brother Vol would try and help while her younger sister and youngest brother Myril and Frell would spend the time playing.

Anea shrugged at Cullen’s question, “I’m not exactly a smart person, Cullen. I think I’d be better off just winging it, seeing what happens.”

“But if you do that you’ll end up in a bad place, Anea.” 

Anea looked up from the projector she was aligning with the photo paper, her eyebrow quirked questioningly but she let the subject drop. “I’ll come around to your place. I like sitting in that tree.”

 

“What do you want to do when you graduate?” Cullen asked, watching as Anea settled in the bow of the tree, her books on her lap and her camera in her hand.

She shrugged, “I liked to think I could travel before I go to university. I don’t think that will be a reality though. Too expensive.”

“We could go together?” Cullen suggested. He felt a blush cover his nose and he looked down, pretending to be settling into his spot on the ground.

Anea was silent for a moment before, “yeah I guess we could.” Cullen heard the shutter of her camera flick and looked up to find she had taken a photo of the single horse his father kept on the property. “Where would you want to go?” She asked.

“I don’t know, truthfully. Anywhere would be nice.”

He could hear Anea’s smile as she took another photo. He turned back to his books, “did you understand what Ser was talking about today?” Mathematics and PD.H.PE were the only two classes they shared this year. 

“I kind of tuned out after he kept going on about cosine.” Anea admitted, “but I did get a helpful lecture from Alistair afterwards.”

They spent the afternoon going over what they had learnt and what Alistair had taught them. When the sun had dipped below the mountains and the air chilled they headed inside where Cullen’s mother pressed a hot bowl of stew in her hands, that was obviously her invitation to stay for dinner. She rarely stayed for dinner, fearing what Vol would let Myril and Frell get up to when she wasn’t home but the smell of the lamb shank stew filled her nostrils and she stayed, eagerly accepting Mia’s offer to take the rest of the stew home though she didn’t eat much of it.

Cullen walked her out to her car, a regular occurrence, and he opened he driver side door for her. Throwing her bag and camera across to the passenger side she stood back up. “I’m glad I came.” She said after a pause.

Cullen rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “yeah, I’m glad you did too. It was fun.”

They stood in silence for a few moments that steadily grew tenser between them. Finally Cullen cleared his throat when Anea shivered a little from the cold. “I’ll see you next week?” 

“Yeah.” Anea responded. Steeling her nerves she leaned forward quickly and kissed his cheek, not having to reach up very far. She pulled away quickly and closed the car door, effectively shutting off any retort she was sure Cullen would utter. She rolled out of the driveway, lights on watching Cullen. He stood rigid, arm up as if waving but he wasn’t moving it, his ears were tinted pink.

“Shit.” Anea muttered under her breath.

 

From that moment interactions between the two of them seemed different. She didn’t try to kiss him again, and he didn’t try to kiss her. Their friendship seemed to solidify and they greeted each other brightly. The tension that was always around them seemed to have snapped with that kiss and they reveled in it.

By their last year things started to go sour. Anea didn’t know how to take their relationship anymore. It obviously wasn’t friendship, but it wasn’t as far as dating, they kept dancing around each other as old tensions came back, frustrating the both of them. The day of their graduation Anea approached him, “So, what are you going to do now?”

Cullen shrugged, “I might be moving towns. I got a job offer to work as a men’s prison security guard.”

For some reason Anea fumed, “I thought we were going to travel. I thought it was unspoken agreement that we weren’t going to move out of our home towns!”

“Why are you getting mad? You got into Val Royaux University!” Cullen retorted. He suddenly stopped when he saw his family standing a little ways from them. He scanned the crowd, looking for signs of Anea’s family. “Hey, where are your family?”

“They didn’t come—couldn’t come.” She said once. 

“Why?” 

 

“Why should you care?” Anea snapped. She moved away from him and he held her wrists. She looked up at him.

“One last study session tonight? My place?” His eyes were questioning. Something was wrong that he wasn’t telling her.

She shook her head and left, getting into her car and departing.

Cullen stood for a few moments before Mia tackled him.


	3. You pulled me out by the collar of my shirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> do you still love me?

Six months passed and things went down hill hard, for the both of them. 

Anea had pushed her body too far, any food she tried was instantly brought back up in a puddle of vile and blood. Therapy was needed, hospitalisation, she had to learn to eat again. She was so thin she looked dead, her skin pale and grey. She had refused to let her brother call Cullen, calling Cullen would have to admit to him that her family was dead. Died in a car accident, only Vol, Myril and herself remained. Social Services took Myril off her after the first month after she struggled to find a job; Vol was old enough to choose where he wanted to be. Once she found a job she found it hard to keep the house, she and Vol moved into a housing commission apartment, she had to sell her cameras and archery equipment, Vol had also sold his archery equipment and his skateboards.

Then she ended up in hospital. She was there for another month.

During the time before Anea was hospitalised, Cullen had found living on his own hard. The wages he earned was enough to keep his tiny apartment and to keep his fridge barely stocked, but the mental strain of his job was getting to him. Within three months he was delving in drugs, within another two months he was addicted. Bars and fights were where most of his nights ended. One day someone pulled a knife and cut his upper lip, needing immediate medical attention.

It was another year before Anea gained the courage to call him.

“Hey.” She said into the phone.

“Anea? How did you get this number?”

“I called Mia, she told me.”

Cullen huffed a sigh. His head hurt and he began rummaging through his underwear draw, looking for a fix.

“H…How have you been?” Anea asked hesitantly.

“Fine. Just fine.” He lied. The addiction was killing him. “You?”

“Alight.” A lie, she at that moment was sitting in the living room of her tiny apartment trying to keep her food down. If she went two days without throwing it up she could be allowed to see Vol. They had agreed to it.

“Hmm.”

They were silent for a moment, neither one wanting to speak. Anea broke the silence at the same time Cullen did. 

“I’m sorry, you first.” Cullen said.

“I’m sorry for the way I treated you, you know, on our last day.” Anea felt guilty and she wanted to apologise. 

Cullen was silent before, “It’s okay. I wasn’t exactly kind either.”

They laughed. Their conversation was broken and fragmented, Cullen often snapped accidentally till he found a pill. Anea would trail off mid-sentence. The call ended awkwardly with Cullen whispering, “I love you.”

Anea sat still on the couch, unsure if she had heard him right. It had been a year and a half since they had seen each other, she had dated two people, the first not exactly friendly, the second she lost interest. She expected her feelings for Cullen to fade, but when she heard those words her heart ached. She hung up without answering him.

 

They met up as often as they could after that, re-establishing their crumbled friendship. Cullen asked about her health, she answered honestly which prompted a worried look from Cullen. She asked about his, he answered semi-truthfully. He said nothing about the drugs. 

When they departed for their homes he decided to quit cold turkey. Anea decided to get her health back on track.

It wasn’t easy for both of them. A year later Anea got a suitable job to support herself better, Vol moved out permanently though he didn’t move far. Social Services allowed Myril to come back into Anea’s life; soon the walls of the new house were decorated with Anea’s photos, taken by her new camera.

Cullen took a harder road, it took him a little longer to get off the drugs than he thought it would, often he ended up in the ER with withdrawals. His family visited more often, helping him get back on track. He decided he wanted to study, get a better job for himself.

That was where he ran into Anea again. At first he barely recognised her, her skin was darker and her figure more lean, muscular, as if she had taken up exercising in her spare time. She had filled out, gaining the figure she lost during high school, she wore loose fitting shirts, clearly still uneasy about her weight. The biggest difference though was her hair. It was cut short, barely reached the collar of her jacket and Cullen found it suited her. She had always spoken of cutting her hair but never had the guts to do it.

He immediately approached her. 

“Cullen!” She squealed, moving to hug him but thinking better of it at the last second. Cullen recognised their old routine, dancing around something that they both knew was there but wasn’t sure is the other was aware of. “You’re looking so much better from the last time I saw you!” 

“Yeah well, I cleaned up my act. Decided to get a degree, become a detective.” Cullen rubbed the back of his neck bashfully. He wasn’t going to lie to himself, he cared for her and those feelings had not gone away.

“How’s the love life?” Anea asked, taking him off guard. 

He shrugged, “wasn’t too bad. I’ve had a few flings, a few relationships, slept around a bit.”

Anea blushed slightly and covered it with a laugh. “What about you?” He asked.

“Much the same.”

The conversation was easy, light hearted and they found they didn’t want to leave each other’s company. At the end of the day Anea texted Cullen.

_How about a study session? My place?_

Cullen took a little longer to reply, probably in a class.

 _Just like old times?_ Came his reply.

Anea smiled, _Just like old times._

 

Anea picked Cullen up from his place, he had moved on campus to be closer to his study. The drive back to Anea’s was pleasant, she turned the radio on, flicking through till the music from her phone was playing.  
Cullen recognised the tune and began to sing softly under his breath. After a few songs he knew his singing got louder.

“I didn’t know you still sang.” Anea commented, turning the music down a little.

“Yeah well, ten years of sing coaching.” Cullen blushed. Anea smiled.

Once inside and set up, Anea’s feet up on the table, Cullen looked up from his textbook to her. She was chewing on the end of a pen, reading a law textbook. Archery coaching, that’s what she was doing to bring in a bit of money, selling her photos on the side. 

Anea lifted her eyes to find Cullen averting his gaze, staring hard at his policing textbook. She smiled, “You do look much better than the last time I saw you. What haven’t you told me?”

Cullen debated. Was it too soon? Did he feel like telling her? If their friendship was to get back on its old track he needed to clear the slate of dirt. He lifted his head and sighed and began to explain the drugs. 

Studying forgotten they sat opposite each other for hours, listening to each other’s stories, their hardships and their struggles to regain their feet. During this time Myril returned from school, Anea prepared a quick snack of cheese and biscuits for her before returning to Cullen.

“Why don’t you stay the night?” Anea suggested. 

Cullen stumbled over his words, “I-I don’t have anything to wear.”

Anea waved a hand, “don’t worry. I’ve got something.” She disappeared into her room down the hall; Cullen could hear her opening and closing drawers. She returned with a shirt that was far too big for her and a pair of track pants that Cullen recognised as Vol’s. She handed him the items of clothing and Cullen immediately recognised the shirt. It was one of his. He had given it to her years ago when she stayed the night at his place.

He said nothing as he slipped it on in the bathroom, it was a little bit of a tight fit Cullen’s workout schedule had defined his chest and shoulders more. 

Cullen exited the bathroom expecting to see the couch set up for him but was surprised to hear Anea was allowing him to sleep with her in her bed.

“It’s too cold to sleep on the couch tonight. I have a heater in my room.” She explained but Cullen didn’t miss the blush on her cheeks. 

They settled in the queen size double bed, a barrier of pillows between them, while they swapped stories of the funnier parts of their lives, reliving old memories and jokes till their sides were sore from laughing. Anea wasn’t sure when they fell asleep.

Morning brought a different kind of comfort. During the night the pillow wall had been destroyed and Cullen woke to find he had wrapped himself around Anea, legs tangled, her forehead rested against his chest and her knee was bent, resting on his hips. He felt her shift as she blinked awake, stifling a yawn. 

She looked up a little confused but smiled when her eyes met his. He found himself genuinely returning the smile; hesitantly he leaned down to kiss her forehead, lips barely touching her skin. She sighed happily. 

Taking one of his hands in hers she stroked his knuckles, the feel of his lips still lingering on her forehead. She took a deep breath and swallowed, “A little while ago you said you loved me. I don’t think you know I heard. I’m asking you now, do you still love me? Is it true?” She looked up at him.

Cullen studied her face before nodding, “yes. I do.” Voice barely above a whisper. 

Anea pressed her head against Cullen’s chest while she let go of his hand to wrap around his waist, bringing him closer. She leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth, above the scar he earned long ago in a bar fight. “I love you too.” She confessed, voice matching his.

Cullen hugged her closer and stroked her back. Neither wanted to get up.

“Let’s not screw it up this time.” Anea said.

Cullen laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finished!!
> 
> I really had to get this out of my system it was literally killing me! Stay tuned though, within the next few days I'll have a music playlist to go with this piece

**Author's Note:**

> I read a few really good Modern AU fics recently and just had to get this out of my system


End file.
